Conflicts over Territory: Anti-Social Behaviour Legislation and Young People

Abstract

© Oxford University Press, 2006. All rights reserved.One of the hallmarks of New Labour's campaign on crime was their attempt to crack down on what they call 'anti-social behaviour'. This catch-all phrase lit up the statute books in 1998, when Section 1 of the Crime and Disorder Act created a new order [the Anti-Social Behaviour Order (ASBO)] which was designed to deal with the relatively trivial but persistent problem of antisocial behaviour; that is, behaviour which may fall short of criminality but is nevertheless a social nuisance. Section 4 of the Act deals with the dispersal of groups of any age whose behaviour in public places is harassing, alarming, or distressing. Far too many ASBOs have been imposed on learning-disabled young people: estimates put the proportion as high as a third of such orders. Because ASBOs restrict space, they can be seen as an example of conflict over territory. This chapter challenges some manifestly outdated assumptions about the nature of group behaviour, and looks at some of the implications of these orders, for example the criminogenic effects of 'grounding' young people.